Barty levels Fed Cup semi for Australia

Murray WenzelAAP

Saturday, 20 April 2019 5:42PM

Camera IconWorld No.9 Ashleigh Barty was too good for two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.

It's a job not quite half done for Ashleigh Barty, who will embrace the moment on a "massive day" for Australian tennis after Saturday's honours were split in their Fed Cup semi-final against Belarus in Brisbane.

Ipswich's world No.9 oozed class on Pat Rafter Arena as she got the better of doubles partner and former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka to level the tie 1-1 following Samantha Stosur's stoic three-set loss to Aryna Sabalenka.

Barty's 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 defeat of the two-time Australian Open champion showed off all the attributes that have shot the 22-year-old into the top 10, while team captain Alicia Molik thought Stosur played some of the best tennis of her 20-year career on home soil in a gallant 7-5 5-7 6-3 loss to the world No.10.

Barty will play Sabalenka in a crucial reverse singles rubber to open Sunday's action, while Stosur or Daria Gavrilova will play Azarenka in the second match.

If scores are tied, a doubles rubber will determine who hosts the Fed Cup final in November - a trophy that has alluded Australia for 45 years.

"It's massive for all of us ... it's pretty good so far but I want it to be better tomorrow," Molik said of the side's fighting effort in front of a rowdy home crowd.

"It'd be so amazing to be sitting here in a winning position tomorrow; that's the end goal for us.

"The position, it feels really familiar and I think we can get ourselves out of it."

Barty lapped up the home-crowd pressure, celebrating the win by giving her mother an on-court birthday shout out.

"This is why we train, we want to get down to crunch time, go out and enjoy it," she said.

Barty recovered from 0-40 down at 5-5 to stay on serve and trailed 2-0 in the tie-break before a clever sliced backhand kicked off a run of seven straight points to claim a 59-minute set.

The pair traded breaks again early in the second set but Barty found another gear, breaking her current doubles partner to love to go ahead 3-2 and serve her way home to end Azarenka's 13-match Fed Cup winning streak and extend her own to 12.

Earlier Stosur played what she described as one of her best matches in Brisbane only to fall frustratingly short of a surprise defeat.

Her gutsy loss featured 17 breaks of serve, with Sabalenka destructive on two fronts as she mixed brilliant tennis with regular unforced errors.

"I hit the ball well, hit it hard ... a couple of moments in that third set she came up with some clutch returns and that's why she's top 10," Stosur said.

The winner in Brisbane will host either France or Romania in November's final.